Agricultural Economics, 2016 (vol. 62), issue 1

The impact of the biogas industry on agricultural sector in GermanyOriginal Paper

Zuzana LAJDOVA, Jan LAJDA, Peter BIELIK

Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2016, 62(1):1-8 | DOI: 10.17221/292/2015-AGRICECON  

The whole concept of the biogas industry is an ongoing issue particularly because of its differences from the original purpose and the criticism about causing too many externalities. Its high costs and low efficiency compared to the traditional cheaper sources belong to the main problems. This issue is serious especially currently - at the times of a slow economic growth when a switch to renewable energy sources means yet another harm to the competitiveness of the EU producers as it increases their production costs. Another weak point is that the silage maize as the most common input material for the anaerobic digestion leads to the displacement of...

Foreign trade in agricultural products in the Czech RepublicOriginal Paper

Luboš SMUTKA, Miroslav SVATOŠ, Karel TOMŠÍK, Olga Ivanovna SERGIENKO

Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2016, 62(1):9-25 | DOI: 10.17221/18/2015-AGRICECON  

The article analyses trends in the territorial and commodity structure of the Czech foreign agrarian trade and aims to identify changes which have occurred during the last decade. The main emphasis has been put on the period after the accession to the EU. Primarily such changes are identified, that occurred in the relation to the EU-Member States and to third countries. The results show that the value of agricultural exports and imports was growing during the surveyed period while the growth rate of agricultural exports was above the growth rate of agricultural imports. Agricultural exports increased from CZK 78 billion in 2005 to more than CZK 160...

Adaptation strategies for the Greek agricultural cooperatives during the economic crisisOriginal Paper

Achilleas KONTOGEORGOS, Fotios CHATZITHEODORIDIS, Efstratios LOIZOU

Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2016, 62(1):26-34 | DOI: 10.17221/22/2015-AGRICECON  

Because of the Greek economic crisis, almost all businesses are facing difficult times with severe consequences for employment and the whole economy. Responding to the economic crisis, the companies cut off investments, wages and reduced personnel. However, the companies have to adapt their business strategies to cope with the crisis. This paper conducts a strategic assessment of the Greek agricultural cooperatives during the first half of 2013 using in-depth interviews with cooperative executives in order to illustrate how they have responded to the crisis and also to investigate their strategic options for the upcoming period. The results of the...

Green finance for sustainable green economic growth in IndiaOriginal Paper

Parvadavardini SOUNDARRAJAN, Nagarajan VIVEK

Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2016, 62(1):35-44 | DOI: 10.17221/174/2014-AGRICECON  

Green finance is a core part of the low carbon green growth, because it connects the financial industry, environmental improvement and economic growth. The objective of this paper is to study the green finance and to validate the concept as feasible in the Indian industries for balancing the ecological depreciation due to the assimilation of carbon gases in atmosphere. Green Finance is a market-based investing or lending program that factors environmental impact into risk assessment, or utilizing environmental incentives to drive business decisions. Therefore, the paper also discusses the recent trends and the future opportunities and challenges in...

The optimal capital structure in agricultural cooperatives under the revolving fund cyclesOriginal Paper

Yung-Chang WANG

Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2016, 62(1):45-50 | DOI: 10.17221/204/2015-AGRICECON  

Due to the financial features specific to agricultural cooperatives, the paper constructs a constrained-maximizing model under the assumption that the financial objective of an agricultural cooperative is to maximize the present value of the patron after-tax total income on an infinite time horizon by choosing the dividend rate, the cash patronage refund rate, and the length of the revolving fund cycles. The model is solved numerically in a numerical illustration. In equilibrium, the optimal capital structure is derived for the agricultural cooperative. The effects of the changes in personal tax rates and discount rates are also explored.